Down the River Clean Up on the Clackamas

(Thank you for another great Down the River Clean Up… stay tuned for information about 2019!)

We Love Clean Rivers in partnership with the Clackamas River Basin Council hosts the 16th Annual Down the River Clean Up on Oregon’s Clackamas River, Sunday, September 9th, 2018! See you there!

Do you happen to love this river as much as we do?

If you have ever fallen in love with this or any river, we invite you to join us for this spectacular day of organized chaos where 300+ river-lovers jump in their rafts, kayaks, drift boats – or maybe even dawn a snorkel mask – uniting to scour the banks and bottom of 20+ miles of riverway from Milo McIver Park to Clackamette Park where the Clackamas empties into the Willamette.

Get wet, do the Truffle Shuffle, race your neighbor to extract the biggest hulking piece of rusted dilapidated trash you’ve ever seen and help restore the Clackamas back to its pristine state! We will thank you. The salmon will thank you.

The annual Down the River Clean Up is an on-the-river, 20+ mile clean up made possible by a rich network of river recreationalists, outdoor companies, environmental organizations, government entities, local community leaders, and hopefully you!

A total of 3,635 community members and volunteers have joined together each year for the past 14 years to remove over 66,040 pounds of trash from the Clackamas River. Our dream is to create a community where everyone loves their rivers as much as we do and that some day, we can throw a party on the river without having to clean it up.

The Clackamas River is home to old-growth forests, bird species, steelhead, and is one of the last remaining wild salmon runs in the lower Columbia basin. While the river provides healthy habitat for wildlife, it also supplies the Portland metropolitan area with fresh drinking water. Due to the bounty, beauty, and close proximity to urban areas, the Clackamas River has become known for attracting recreationalists of all kinds, including kayakers, rafters, tubers, anglers, and more. The high-use of the river and its nearness to cities, unfortunately, brings in pollutants and unwarranted litter.

Join us in turning restoration into recreation! Visit the links to the right for detailed event information and volunteer roles.

For more ideas on things you can do to help protect the watershed year-round, please visit the Clackamas River Basin Council’s Fact Sheets.

If you are interested in sponsoring or donating auction items for the 2018 Down the River Clean Up, please contact Alix Danielsen at alix@welovecleanrivers.org.